Peach Turnovers

These Peach Turnovers feature perfectly cooked peaches baked in a hand-held flaky pie crust, all finished with the perfect peach glaze.

Homemade Peach Turnover Recipe

Similar to hand pies but lighter and flakier, these Peach Turnovers feature a sweet, juicy, peach-forward filling and a homemade "quick" puff pastry. However, you can just as easily use store-bought puff pastry if that is what you prefer.

The peach filling comes together quickly on the stovetop and is all about that beautiful stone fruit flavor. The filling is enhanced with a touch of almond extract, lemon juice, and fresh nutmeg to accentuate the peach flavor and balance it perfectly.

After the turnovers are baked, some of the leftover peach filling is used to make a quick peach glaze to drizzle over the top. It's the perfect finishing touch!

While peach turnovers are best enjoyed the day they're eaten, they can be prepared and frozen unbaked or even baked and reheated before serving (more on that below).

Take advantage of peach season and make these delightful pockets of flaky peach goodness—you won't regret it!

So, let's get to making it, shall we? The text below offers tons of tips and helpful notes, or you can scroll to the bottom to grab the recipe and get started!

Jump to:

• Homemade Peach Turnover Recipe
• Ingredients Needed
• What Type of Peaches to Use
• Useful Tools to Make This Recipe
• Homemade vs. Store-Bought Puff
• Making the Peach Filling
• How to Form the Turnovers
• Peach Turnover Baking Tips
• Making the Peach Glaze
• How to Store Them
• More Peach Recipes
• More Turnover Recipes
• Full Recipe

Ingredients Needed

Here is an overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe. The full recipe is listed below in greater detail.

• peaches (see more on that below)
• granulated sugar
• cornstarch
• fresh lemon juice
• nutmeg (this adds some depth to the filling without being obvious and without distracting from the peach flavor)
• almond extract (same for this: it helps the filling taste more peachy, but it can be skipped if there is a nut allergy)
• butter
• puff pastry (homemade or store-bought, see more on this below)

What Type of Peaches to Use

It is crucial that you use ripe peaches for this filling. If you use an unripe and flavorless peach, adding sugar and cooking it won't magically enhance its taste. Even if the peaches are cooked down a little, their flavor won't improve.

A good way to ensure you have a quality peach, aside from buying it in-season and from a reputable source, is to smell it and feel it. The peach should smell peachy! And it should give in easily with a little gentle squeeze.

The peaches should be peeled for this recipe.

I wrote an entire Guide to Peeling Peaches if this is new to you. You can check that out for full step-by-step instructions. Or, a tl:dr section from it:

The easiest way to peel a peach is through the blanching method. Blanching is a cooking technique that involves briefly submerging a food item in boiling water, then immersing it in ice water to halt the cooking process rapidly.

Blanching the peach helps to loosen the skin so it easily peels off, and in my opinion, is the best way to peel a peach.

Homemade vs. Store-Bought Puff

Puff pastry is a well-known French pastry that involves repeatedly layering butter into dough until there are hundreds of alternating layers of butter and dough. A simpler version of this pastry is called rough puff, which yields very similar results with less effort.

Rough puff is made by laminating (or layering) an enriched butter dough that is very similar to pie crust, except that it's rolled and folded five times.

This peach turnover recipe calls for rough puff, but if you wanted to make the classic puff pastry, you certainly could! This recipe makes six turnovers and uses only half the batch of the rough puff recipe. Save the other half for another pastry, or different flavors of turnovers, or you can even double the peach filling and make 12 peach turnovers.

Can you buy puff pastry at the store? You absolutely can. However, the turnovers will be a little bit smaller than the ones you can make with homemade rough puff. And, depending on the type of puff pastry you buy, the instructions for cutting the pastry squares might differ slightly.

The store-bought puff pastry that I've seen typically either comes in one folded 14-ounce sheet or two folded 8-ounce sheets. Please note: I haven't tried all brands, so your store-bought puff pastry may be different than this.

The measurements listed in this recipe correspond to my homemade rough puff recipe. If you have purchased puff pastry with 1 sheet, try to roll it out slightly thinner to an 8"x12 rectangle and cut out 4" squares. If you are using puff pastry with two sheets, I suggest rolling out each sheet a little thinner and cutting them into 4 squares each, which will mean you will get 8 turnovers. See the notes section in the recipe for more information.

Making the Peach Filling

Turnovers bake quickly, so the peach filling inside won't have enough time to cook through in the oven if it's added raw. Instead, the filling should first be cooked on the stovetop before being added to the pastry. Making the peach filling is simple: Essentially, peaches are mixed together with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch and then cooked.

There are a few tricks you should follow to ensure you get the best flavor in your filling:

• The recipe calls for you to macerate the peaches for about 10 minutes. This helps to dissolve the sugars before cooking and to pull out some of the moisture from the peaches.
• If you are using frozen peaches, let them sit for an additional 5-10 minutes until the liquid has come out.
• Be gentle stirring the peaches while they cook. Peaches are delicate and the goal is not to break them down, but instead just gently cook them until the cornstarch has cooked enough to thicken the mixture.
• At the very end of the cooking process, add in some butter and almond extract to the hot mixture. The butter adds a delicious richness, and the almond adds a depth of flavor that complements the peaches very nicely.

The recipe makes about 1 pint of peach pie filling. You likely won't use all of it for the turnovers. You can enjoy any leftover filling over ice cream or yogurt. It also freezes well.

Please note: The peach filling must be completely cooled before filling the turnovers. Adding steaming hot filling to butter pastry always equals a disaster, so be sure to plan ahead of time.

How to Form the Turnovers

Let me start by sharing the golden rule when it comes to working with puff pastry: If your pastry is getting too warm, simply place it in the refrigerator or freezer to chill. Warm puff pastry is not only sticky and tricky to work with, but letting the butter melt will result in stodgy, flat turnovers.

Depending on what puff pastry you use, you should have about six 4.5" squares of pastry to work with.

When filling turnovers, it's important to find a balance between putting in too much filling and putting in too little. If you're struggling to seal the turnovers without the filling spilling out, try using less filling.

Here are a few tips I've picked up for successfully filling turnovers:

• Make sure your pastry and filling are both well chilled.
• Puff pastry is delicate and can be sticky. Use a small piece of parchment to help move the pastry around so you don't have to handle it directly. Shape the turnover on the parchment, then, when transferring the filled turnover to the sheet tray, do so on the parchment, so you don't have to hold it with your hands. This also prevents the pastry from tearing, which can compromise the seal on the filling.
• Use these three steps for sealing the turnovers: First, press together the edges that form the triangle. Then, crimp the edges with a flour-dusted fork. Finally, cut off the very edge of the sealed pieces with a sharp knife. That final cut helps the puff pastry bake up properly and also helps the turnovers stay sealed.

Peach Turnover Baking Tips

Want your turnovers to bake up nicely? Then chill them before baking! The instructions list a minimum time to chill, but the longer, the better.

Chilling the pastry is a simple step to take to help the pastry rise higher and prevent the filling from spilling out during the baking process. Moreover, chilling the puff pastry can reduce the chances of it turning out misshapen.

Because the filling is precooked, I find it unnecessary to poke holes in the pastry to let steam escape. However, if you'd like to make holes in the pastry for aesthetic reasons, it's fine to do so.

To bake, preheat the oven to 400ºF and set a rack in the middle position in the oven. Baking it in the middle will ensure that the puff pastry bakes throughout but doesn't brown too much on the bottom.

The peach turnovers are done when they have puffed up, are golden brown all over, and the filling has started to peek out of some of them.

If you're baking the turnovers from a very cold or frozen state, you may need to bake them for slightly longer than the instructions call for.

Making the Peach Glaze

An optional step is to make a peach glaze to drizzle on top of the turnovers. It adds a sweet touch, an extra burst of peach flavor, and beautiful peachy-pink hue to the finished pastry.

The glaze uses some of the leftover peach filling. Start by scooping out the liquid portion of the filling and mixing it with powdered sugar until it reaches the desired consistency.

Making a glaze can sometimes be a bit of trial and error, unless you are using a scale to measure your ingredients. If your glaze is too thin, simply add in more powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time. If it’s too thick, add in more peach liquid or even milk.

How to Store Them

More Peach Recipes

More Turnover Recipes

I am so honored when you make a recipe from EP! If you make these Peach Turnovers, please leave a star ⭐️ rating with your experience! If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to comment here, and tag me on Instagram!

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